UKA

Senior figures in British athletics asked Mo Farah to split with controversial coach Alberto Salazar before the World Athletics Championships in London, only for the four-time Olympic champion to refuse.

Concerned by the negative impact Farah’s continued association could have when the American remains the subject of a United States Anti-Doping investigation, a prominent figure in the sport was asked by UK Athletics to meet Farah and raise the issue after he competed in Ostrava on June 27.

Farah instantly dismissed the possibility of dropping the man who masterminded his amazing transformation from also-ran to arguably the finest distance-runner of all time after also clinching six world titles.

Salazar has always maintained his innocence, but Sportsmail can reveal that the American’s position as a distance-running consultant for UKA was secretly terminated in September 2015.

In the build-up to London 2017 there appeared to be a carefully orchestrated campaign to put distance between Farah and Salazar, with reports of a probable separation after the championships amid claims that his involvement with the Briton had been limited for some time.

That, however, was not the case. Asked on Wednesday if Salazar remains Farah’s coach, his representatives told this newspaper: ‘Alberto is still Mo’s coach.’

Clearly a compromise was reached for the World Championships, with Salazar staying away from London to prevent the situation with USADA from over-shadowing Farah’s last major event on the track and his farewell to British fans. Instead, as this newspaper revealed, Salazar sent his son.

UK Athletics had been nervous about their own association with Salazar since doping allegations about the Nike Oregon Project, where Farah trains, surfaced in a joint BBC Panorama-ProPublica report in June 2015.

Following an investigation into the Panorama claims by the Performance Oversight Group, UKA issued a carefully worded statement in September 2015.

‘In July we said that there was no evidence of any impropriety on the part of Mo Farah and no reason to lack confidence in his training programme,’ it said. ‘The Oversight Group have restated that view. They have also found no reason to be concerned about the engagement of other British athletes and coaches with the Oregon Project.’

But the UKA board took the immediate decision to end Salazar’s wider association with British distance-runners, limiting him to working with just Farah.

It meant Salazar still had a contract with UKA. But he was informed that his position as a distance-running consultant, technically unpaid as his salary was paid by UKA sponsors Nike, would not exist while the USADA investigation was ongoing.

When a USADA report on the Oregon Project was leaked by Russian hackers earlier this year, the situation once again became uncomfortable for UKA.

On Wednesday one source claimed that there was a desire to see Farah part company with Salazar before he runs in April’s Virgin London Marathon. Indeed, it was said there had been a power struggle between Marathon boss Dave Bedford and Farah prior to Farah committing to the race.

But the talk that took place in Ostrava, Sportsmail understands, was initiated by the governing body. That led to further erosion in the relationship between Farah and UKA. As we revealed in August, Farah refused to work with head of endurance Barry Fudge in the build-up to London. Fudge worked with Salazar for years.

According to one source on Wednesday, the root of the split was Farah’s frustration with Fudge for devoting more of his time to younger runners such as Andrew Butchart and Laura Muir.

UKA are looking at their future funding plans. If they decide to remove Farah from their list of funded athletes, at least they would sever links with Salazar.

An injection given to Sir Mo Farah before his London Marathon debut was within legal limits but not correctly recorded, a doctor has said.

He disclosed the detail while giving evidence to a Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing into doping in sport. L-carnitine, an amino acid supplement, is legal providing it is not administered in a quantity greater than 50ml every six hours.

The matter had come to light following the leaking of a report from the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Chakraverty conceded no accurate records of the dosage had been kept.

Chakraverty, who now works with the England football team, said: “Where we have had lapses is when you’re on the road, when you’re travelling, and that is probably the unique thing about this role. Not all our athletes train in one area.

“When you are constantly on call for athletes you travel to those athletes. If you don’t record it straight away — which I didn’t in this case — then it can get forgotten because you have all these other things. That is just the scenario. It is not an excuse.” Farah has denied any wrongdoing.

Chakraverty revealed he had never administered L-carnitine before and has not done since, and only did so after considerable research into the benefits by himself and UK Athletics.

He said the reasoning centred around Farah’s decision to step up in distance to marathon from the track and because of the extra endurance work needed.

He stressed that it was a dietary supplement that should not be bracketed with illegal performance-enhancing substances.

He said: “We all believe in the integrity of the sport. We are absolute advocates for it. We have a set of rules and we abide by those rules. That is essential.

“The use of the word performance-enhancing drug is slightly inflammatory. It is a supplement, it is part of a normal diet. There is a difference.”

There was some debate over whether the supplement was administered as an infusion — as had been suggested in the leaked USADA report — or as an injection.

Chakraverty said this was not a major issue and that in some cases an injection can be referred to as an infusion.

He said: “The word infusion can mean injection, whereas an injection just means injection. However, that has been misinterpreted and misrepresented. I use the word injection because that is what it was.”

But he added: “It is just the delivery method. How it is delivered makes no difference to what effect that would have in this instance.”

The select committee’s inquiry is also looking into allegations surrounding the Nike Oregon Project, where Farah and his coach Alberto Salazar are based.

Another doctor formerly with UKA, Dr John Rogers, visited a training camp the group held in France in 2011.

He did report back some concerns about the side-effects of some of the supplements Farah was taking, but stressed there were no worries that anything illegal may have been taking place.

Farah was receiving supplements to help prevent stress fractures and for iron and vitamin D deficiencies.

Rogers said: “We had several conversations [with Salazar] where he was very open and transparent about the sports medicine practices he was using.

“There was no concern there were any WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] rules being broken. There were some medical concerns around possible side-effects from some of the strategies they were using and it was important I shared that in terms of the continuity of care.”

Ed Warner, the chairman of UKA, said procedures, including record-keeping, have been tightened up in recent years.

Warner pointedly said “please don’t tar us with the same brush” when the subject of the British Cycling’s record-keeping controversy was raised. UKA also now handles all of Farah’s medical care.

Warner said: “There was a period of a few months in which we allowed Mo to go to Oregon and be treated by a local GP over in America, and we were observing his medical care from afar.

“A decision was taken that we had to make sure we were in control of all medical interventions where Mo was concerned. That should always be the case for funded athletes.”

The committee’s final report was due to be delivered next month but will now be published some time after the June 8 general election. USADA welcomed the hearing and requested evidence be sent to it as part of its own investigations.